Disappearing Person Alerts
Queensland Police Service
Issue 49 | December 2018
Agency
BWM Dentsu Melbourne
Creative Team
Group Chief Creative Officer Rob Belgiovane Executive Creative Director Amy Hollier Associate Executive Creative Director Phil Van Bruchem Creative Director Chris Andrews Copywriter Tom Opie Art Director Chris Plummer
Production Team
Executive Producer Sonia McLaverty Production Company Guilty Content
Other Credits
Digital Planner Mac Wright Behavioural Change Agency Cox Inall Cox Inall Change General Manager Justine Sywak Account Executive Ellen Donald Vizeum Communications Planning Executive Patrick Bell
Date
July 2017
Background
In Australia, the incidence of persons being reported missing has grown by almost 30% in the last year, with a significant increase in the reporting of persons under the age of 18. Today, one teenager is reported missing every 20 minutes. In the search for these missing persons, police rely heavily on information from the general public.
The greater the number of people who know about a person’s disappearance, the greater the chance of them being found.
But traditional alerts were failing to reach the public within the all-important first 24 hours, particularly teenagers, the group most at risk of going missing.
The task was to modernise the way missing persons information was distributed to the public, thereby recruiting more young Australians to help find missing persons.
Idea
Using Snapchat, the fastest growing social media among Australian teenagers, a new tool was created to assist Queensland Police. Sent through Snapchat, Disappearing Person Alerts were real-time, geo-targeted messages that helped find missing teenagers.
The alert (disappearing after 10 seconds) featured a recent photo of a missing youngster, name and location last seen, while communicating a highly emotive message, ‘Help find John Citizen before he disappears.’ Now every person with a mobile phone can be notified as soon as someone is reported missing in a location near them.
Results
The alerts gained national recognition with a reach of over eight million from a $0 budget, by using the platform that engages 90% of the group most at risk of going missing - teenagers. The first alert was sent the day the campaign went live and the teenage girl was found within 24 hours. The Queensland Police continue to maintain a recovery rate of 99.7% for missing persons. The ongoing results continue to surpass Queensland Police’s expectations, generating interest to expand the idea across Australia and overseas.
Our Thoughts
How do you reach people who set out to make sure they are impossible to reach? You go where they go and do what they do. But that’s easier said than done. Plenty of brands have got it wrong, trying to talk to millennials on Snapchat, because success depends entirely on the quality of their content. If it isn’t exceptional, it will be ignored. But here’s the Police getting it absolutely right, using the main characteristic of the platform (the images and captions disappear once viewed) to chilling effect.
Right message to the right people at the right time and in the right place.
If your advertising isn’t doing all of the above, then you’re probably wasting money.